DUNGEY RETAINS LEAD AFTER HOUSTON SX STALL

Courtesy of Suzuki
Team Suzuki Press Office - April 11.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey raced back to fifth place after stalling his bike in the Houston round of the AMA/ FIM Supercross series on Saturday night - but still heads the series by 12 points.

The Florida rider lost his footing as he challenged Ivan Tedesco for third place and dropped back to seventh in the 20-lap Main Event, but fought back two more places in the remaining laps.

The day didn't go as the team planned in either the Supercross or East Coast Lites Main Events, with Austin Stroupe separating his shoulder in practice before his class race.

Stroupe has been consistently-smooth and in control of his RM-Z250 in 2010. The bike was dialed-in after the first practice on Saturday and was soaking up the busy track, but an unfortunate incident in the second practice on Saturday afternoon had Stroupe visiting the Asterisk Mobile Medical unit. "Austin is going to go back to North Carolina to get his shoulder looked at by his doctor," Team Manager Roger DeCoster said. "The injury is an AC separation of the second degree. He'll be out next week, and probably out for the rest of the Supercross season. He has an appointment on Monday, and we'll find out more then. It was a tough day with Austin getting hurt first and then with Ryan we had an off day."

Dungey went into the Main Event with a convincing Heat 2 win and the fastest lap in practice. With a few tweaks on his suspension to fine-tune his RM-Z450, he lined up on the starting gate looking to extend his lead in the Supercross class: He has won four rounds so far in 2010 and he looked confident in his ability to race well on the dirt in Reliant Stadium. After the first corner, Dungey found himself in third place. He and his bike worked hard to overcome the deep whoops and traded spots with a few racers throughout the first half of the race. At the midway point, just as he was about to catch and pass the third place rider, Dungey stalled his bike in a complicated turn. Stuck in the whooped-out corner as a few racers passed him, Dungey managed to restart his bike and move himself into fifth place where he finished the race. "Some tracks favour you more than others, and some tracks you have to adapt to when things aren't working," Dungey said after the race. "I stalled it in the middle of the race, but overall I'm all right with tonight. We'll get out of here still holding onto the lead and I'll learn from tonight and move on."

Said DeCoster: "I think Ryan rode a little too cautious today, and once you become too cautious you get out of sync. It's almost worse than being too aggressive because you make more mistakes when you don't ride your ideal race. Also, we didn't hit the setting on the bike the way we should have. We would've been third most likely, but Ryan stalled the engine once and we ended up way back in fifth and gave up some points. We need to go back to work and come back in St. Louis. We'll work it out this week and I think we can turn it around."

Results: 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 2. Kevin Windham (Honda); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha); 4. Chad Reed (Kawasaki); 5. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 6. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki); 7. Davi Millsaps (Honda); 8. Andrew Short (Honda); 9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha); 10. Josh Hill (Yamaha).

Championship Points (after 13 rounds): CLICK HERE

Results: 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 2. Kevin Windham (Honda); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha); 4. Chad Reed (Kawasaki); 5. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 6. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki); 7. Davi Millsaps (Honda); 8. Andrew Short (Honda); 9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha); 10. Josh Hill (Yamaha).
 

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